Episode 307 - 6 Chefs Compete
The seventh episode of Season 3 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on Fox, on July 16, 2007. On that episode, the team’s menus were put to the test, and an early front runner’s time was soon over. Intro On their way back to the dorms, Bonnie expressed surprise that Melissa was eliminated so quickly, but Rock expressed relief as it meant one less person for him to compete against. With the teams now back to gender division, Josh declared that it was game time. In the red team, Jen noted that the blue team was acting really cocky, but Bonnie expressed surprise that she was up against two Sous Chefs and an Executive Chef, and was ready to beat them. Team challenge The next morning, both teams made their way down to the dining room to meet Ramsay. Ramsay noted that there were six chefs left, and with it being pretty obvious that the battle of the sexes was back on, he urged them all to take their skills to the next level. Then, Ramsay announced that for their next challenge, they would all work with leftovers as a test to turn previously used food into a stunning new dish. Each team would make one appetizer and two entrées from a tray of identical leftovers in 30 minutes. During the challenge, while the blue team had a clear idea what their dishes would be, the red team struggled on deciding their ideas and wasted nearly half of their time on it. With 10 minutes to go, the blue team was midway on cooking their dishes, while the red team was just able to figure out their ideas. Both teams finished up their dishes and plated them. The appetizer round took place with Bonnie and Brad going head to head. Brad presented his curry bass with crustacean tomato pasta, and Ramsay praised Brad for the amount of work he placed into his dish. Bonnie, who felt less confident after seeing Brad's dish, presented her rustic chicken stew, and Ramsay also praised it for tasting nice. Because it was hard to identify what dish edged out the other, Ramsay gave a point to both teams and the teams were tied at 1 each. Jen and Josh were up next in the first entrée round. Jen presented her steak and eggs dish, but Ramsay said it looked like something Julia would make at work, and that he expected more from Jen. Josh presented his chicken leg with pea tendrils, but Ramsay also had some criticisms of his heavily acidic sauce, and that the chicken was undercooked. Ramsay even stated he expected more from Josh as he was a professional chef. Disappointed in both Josh and Jen, neither of them scored a point and it still remained a 1 point tie. The final pair up was Julia against Rock for the second entrée round. Rock presented his surf and turf dish that consisted of a petit ribeye and a pan seared bass and not only did Ramsay call it delicious, he praised Rock for cooking it with finesse. Soon, Julia presented her fish and chips dish, and while Ramsay said the dish was nice, it was only just fish and chips and he expected more. So, Rock won that round, and the blue team won the challenge 2-1. Reward The blue team was rewarded with a paintball excursion, and would compete against Ramsay in a three against one game. That excited the men as they finally had a chance to get back at Ramsay for his constant yelling at them. At the Hollywood Sports Park, the three geared up and had target practice with both the red team and Ramsay’s faces on the targets. Then, the blue team was ready to take on Ramsay, who was hiding out in full paintball gear himself. While the men were able to get some hits on Ramsay, he was able to take out Brad, Josh, and Rock in that order. Despite losing to Ramsay, the blue team said that it was their best reward yet as no one had ever got to shoot at Ramsay before. Punishment The red team was punished by participating in both spring cleaning and Delivery Day. When they were taking in deliveries, Bonnie was in charge of making sure they had what they needed. But when they brought everything inside, Julia noticed that they took in boxes of turbot skeletons instead of the full filets. That dismayed Bonnie as the truck had already left. After Sous Chefs Mary-Ann and Scott double checked the list, it was soon revealed that not only did they also take in snapper filets that had no skin on them, but also took in unsalted butter instead of the salted variant they use. Because of those mistakes, the delivery truck had to be called in again, and the red team had to fix their mistakes late in the night. When the blue team returned from their reward at 9:05 pm, Jean-Philippe suggested that the men could help out the red team, but the men laughed at the idea and kept walking, much to his disgust. Creating new menus The next morning, both teams came downstairs and expected to begin prep for service. But Ramsay announced that for that night’s service, he was letting both teams have a hand in their own menus. Both teams were required to create a menu that had 3 appetizers, 3 entrées, and 3 desserts. Ramsay told them that he expected both creativity and teamwork from this and sent them back upstairs, and they had 1 hour to create their menus. For the red team, Jen and Bonnie came up with their ideas but ignored Julia's suggestion on a New York strip steak idea due to her position as a Waffle House Cook. For the blue team, Brad took the lead again and inputted a lot of high-end dishes on their menu while ignoring Josh’s suggestions and deciding to call Rock's macaroni and cheese idea a cassoulet, even though Rock argued that it was not a true cassoulet. Before service As both teams went downstairs for prep, Jen expressed her concern to Bonnie about their menu, but Bonnie told her not to become a bitch right now, which angered Jen. When Ramsay looked at the red team’s menu, he noticed that Julia did not have any input on it. Julia revealed her steak and shrimp dish idea, and Ramsay told the red team to put it on the menu. For the blue team, Ramsay was concerned that their menu looked very risky and asked if they could pull it off. All three of the men expressed confidence in it, and Brad expressed hope that the customers would order from their menu the most. Both teams began prepping their kitchens. Bonnie asked for some suggestions, but Jen and Julia ignored her causing Sous Chef Mary-Ann to remind the red team that this was still a team effort. With both teams ready, Ramsay ordered Jean-Philippe to open Hell’s Kitchen. Dinner service As the diners placed their orders in, it became very clear that the red team’s menu looked more appealing to the customers than the blue team's. The red team got their first ticket, and more orders soon came flooding in for them which Ramsay informed the blue team about. Julia informed Ramsay that she needed 5 more minutes on Bonnie's bacon wrapped rabbit dish as it was not cooking right, and Ramsay had Bonnie help Julia, which upset Jen as this meant Bonnie never made the dish before. As Ramsay suggested an alternate way to cook the rabbit, Julia was upset about getting screwed by Bonnie. 30 minutes into dinner service and the blue team finally received their first order of tickets. Brad sent up his ravioli dishes, but they soon came back due to the ravioli being stone cold, and Ramsay ordered Brad to make a shrimp salad as a replacement, and also told him to concentrate. In the red kitchen, Julia finally brought up the rabbit appetizer and Ramsay urged her to keep the momentum going. Now onto entrées, Julia's steak dish was shown to be the most requested item on the red team’s menu, much to the surprise of both Ramsay and Jean-Philippe. The blue team began to work on their entrées as well, but Rock noticed that Josh’s pan was not hot enough for the lamb entrée, even though Josh argued that it was. Julia sent up her steak dishes and Ramsay was impressed by the perfect cooking and the size of the portions, while praising her for her good job so far. Josh did not communicate with Ramsay on his lamb, and one of his orders was boiled. That frustrated Ramsay and told Josh that his actions confirmed to him that he cannot cook at all and that his time in the competition was running out. A freaked out Josh started calling for times, but Ramsay told him he would not trust him with a hotdog stand. The red team’s entrées were moving at a great pace although some tables with two different menu orders had a different dining experience. When one of the female customers complained to Jean-Philippe that she felt insulted that the gentleman at her table was served first before her, he relayed it back to Ramsay who yelled at Josh for his lamb. Josh's next attempt at the lamb, however, was raw, and Ramsay ordered him to get out of the shit. Ramsay ordered Rock and Brad for at least one of them to help Josh out, but neither one of them wanted to help him, much to Josh’s dismay. In the red kitchen, Ramsay noticed that Jen was not doing much and was about to clear down her station and ordered her to get a grip. Josh finally got an acceptable order of lamb out, and the blue team managed to get their entrées out to the diners. Ramsay turned to the red kitchen and informed the ladies that the blue team had overtaken them. Also, Ramsay pointed out to Bonnie that she was cooking the garnishes with no gas turned on, and mocked her shocked expression. Bonnie got disappointed by her own incompetence in the competition, and Ramsay told her that she should be ashamed of her poor performance. Two hours into dinner service, and the blue team was almost finished with their entrées. However, some of their dishes were sent back as Brad's sauce for the turbot was both bland and salty, which Ramsay compared to baby vomit. With the red team on their final ticket, Julia soon got confused as too many people were crowding her, and Bonnie had to redo the steak's garnish as she burned the initial one. Their teamwork started to collapse, and Ramsay admitted that he was starting to get pissed off. Despite that, the red team managed to communicate well enough to send their last entrée out, while the blue team managed to get desserts out before finally finishing. The red team’s communication continued to collapse as Jen and Bonnie were arguing over the desserts. Even though the blue team finished, Josh felt that he could be going home after that performance. Post-mortem When both teams were lined up, Ramsay told the red team that their performance on the last four tables was embarrassing. Then, Ramsay told the blue team that there was no teamwork at all and while Josh's performance was a disaster, he was more disappointed in Rock and Brad for not even attempting to help Josh and that the people who suffered the most were the customers. There was no winning team for that night, but Ramsay named Julia the “Best of the Worst” for the red team as her steak dish was the most popular item of the red team’s menu, and she did not get one order ruined. Ramsay told Julia to think about one person from the red team for nomination, while ordering the blue team to agree on one person for nomination. Back in the dorms, Julia weighed her options, but was leaning more towards Bonnie since while she was a good cook, she could have been a little stronger on the execution. On the blue team, Josh knew he would be an easy choice since he was up three times already, and Brad argued that he himself should not go up. As Rock left for a bit, Brad accused Josh of being bitter that Rock put him up for elimination twice in the past, but Josh argued against it. When Rock returned, the three seriously discussed who to send up. Elimination At elimination, Julia nominated Bonnie, and Brad announced that the blue team’s nomination was himself based on his poor leadership, though Rock argued that it was Brad himself who took control of the menu. After listening to both nominees pleas, Ramsay called Bonnie's name, but told her to wake up. After that, he eliminated Brad for his poor leadership skills in service. During his exit interview, Brad felt that Rock and Josh nominated him out of fear he was the better chef on the blue team, and still felt he was the best. Ramsay's comment: "Brad was a hard worker. Unfortunately, he worked with his back rather than his brain. He lacked finesse to become a great chef." Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes